What do you feed your Dog/Cat?

[TripleDot]

As the title says, what do you feed your pet? If you are feeding them anything bought from a large chain grocery store (at least where I live) STOP feeding them that stuff. It's mostly nothing but fillers, dyes, and chemical preservatives anyway.

I worked at a pet planet store for three months, I quit cause of pressure from the higher ups. During that time, I learned more about pet health, nutrition, and well being than most people ever will in their lifetimes. Now, I am not a specialist in any one subject, but I learned as much about foods, treats, canned foods, behavior, and sicknesses/allergies as I could.

Tell me what you currently feed your pet, what kind of pet, their breed (dogs), their age, any allergies, any foods your cat/dog are picky about, and I should be able to recommend you something WAY better for your pet, that costs maybe a few dollars more per bag, but it's still hella cheaper than going to the vet when you could have avoided the medical bill.
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Caring for your pet - Nutrition
The first thing about pet nutrition that one should know is that we are like parents to our pets, caring for them the way we ourselves raise children. They depend on us to make the right choices for them, and a major one of those choices is food. Now you can be cheap and easy and go buy your food from some big chain grocery store, but you're really buying a bag full of by-products, chemical preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, fillers, dyes, fats, and a lot of other nasty stuff. A good food will list no preservatives, no by-products, no fillers or dyes, made with only fresh meat and vegetables/fruits.

Look on the ingredients panel. What is the first ingredient? If it's chicken by-product, them it's most likely feathers that have been steamed down into a jelly like paste, that is used as a filler due to it's low nutritional content. If it's any other animal by-product, it could be anything from that animal. Chicken feathers is just the most common by-product in cheap foods.

Avoid any foods that use any sort of by-product, or certain kinds of grain. Now there are wholesome grains that pets can eat, and these include*
* Amaranth
* Barley+
* Brown rice+
* Bulgur+ (cracked wheat)
* Whole-wheat pasta or couscous
* Flaxseed+
* Millet+
* Oats+
* Quinoa+
* Rye
* Spelt
* Wheat berries
* Wild rice

*Taken from https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/List_of_whole_grains.htm

I have not heard of all of those being used in pet foods, and the ones I have seen being used have a + by them. Avoid any middlings, mill runs, ground yellow corn, or any cheap filler grains.

Also note that grains are the #1 cause of allergies in pets, since it is not a part of their natural diet, and was only introduced to them when we started making cheap food with shitty ingredients.

Now, depending on what you want out of your food, you may want to also look at any supplemental type ingredients. I'll get into this later.

Switching your pets food
Ok, so you have a good food and you want to switch them over from their old grocery brand crap. Simple. The way I like to do it is by mixing 1/6 of the new food into the old food, and gradually adding more and more each time, until by about the end of four days they are eating nothing but the new food. Some animals do experience diarrhea or constipation, or will refuse to touch the new food altogether, in which case try mixing some wet food with it, or try pouring some tuna juice over it, just not too much.

I am currently working on adding MUCH more nutritional info to this post, so check back later.

[xilikeeggs0]

I have 3 large dogs. 1 heeler mix (3-1/2 years old), 1 60-pound mutt (2ish years old), and a 9-10 month old pit bull. All males, and the 2 older ones are neutered. They eat whatever science diet food is on sale when I need food, and whatever my mom is eating, which is usually junk food.

They'll eat absolutely anything. The 2 older ones got into a fight last night over a watermelon rind (sp?). They also like week-old dead cat. As far as I know, none of them are allergic to anything, but the pit bull is epileptic. He's on phenobarbitol twice a day to control the seizures.

[xxombie]

Would you mind if I stickied this and made it an all around animal nutrition thread? Very cool. Definitely expand on how to find good food and all that stuff.

I've got a pure beagle. He's a year old this month. He's SO fucking picky. We've tried just about every store bought kibble there is, ranging from puppy blends to adult blends, and every flavor available. My grandma, despite our protests (it's technically her dog, she lives with us), has been mixing bacon fat or butter in with his kibble to encourage him to eat it. Obviously this can't be good for him. We can't afford to buy those expensive little gourmet wet food things, but a slightly more expensive bag of kibble would be something you could swing.

Also, do you know anything about rat diets? It's a long shot, but I've been working on making them the perfect mix and some help from someone like you would be great.

[TripleDot]

Go ahead and sticky it, I rather like the idea myself :D. As for a rat diet, I have NO CLUE whatsoever, sorry. And for making the food more palatable, I have always found that pouring the juice from a can of tuna works wonders, and yes putting fat/butter on their food is HORRIBLY bad for any animal.

xilikeeggs0, I would usually recommend most people on science diet with no known history of allergies to switch over to something like the acana or orijen foods made by champion pet foods, or eagle pack/eagle pack holistic. Keep in mind, that is mostly out of personal preference.

[dedraic]

My cat eats generic brand cat food, assorted mice/rats/gophers/birds, and the occasional piece of whatever meat I cooked for my evening meal.

What would you feed a mixed breed cat for optimal nutrition? She's pretty happy, and the best mouser and one of the best scrappers I've ever seen even though she's tiny. She's about two years old, if that makes any difference.

Truth be told, I've never even thought about this. Which is odd, because my desk is currently covered in pieces of notepad paper working on feeding and fertilization schedules for my fish tanks...

[TripleDot]

Dedraic, for a cat that seems active (yours) I would usually recommend horizon legacy, or Eagle holistic. Horizon if she is more active, and it also has various extra supplemental ingredients such as Colostrum.

[xilikeeggs0]

Go ahead and sticky it, I rather like the idea myself :D. As for a rat diet, I have NO CLUE whatsoever, sorry. And for making the food more palatable, I have always found that pouring the juice from a can of tuna works wonders, and yes putting fat/butter on their food is HORRIBLY bad for any animal.

xilikeeggs0, I would usually recommend most people on science diet with no known history of allergies to switch over to something like the acana or orijen foods made by champion pet foods, or eagle pack/eagle pack holistic. Keep in mind, that is mostly out of personal preference.

Can you get that at Petsmart/Petco? I've never heard of any of those brands. Why do you reccomend those over Science Diet?

[dedraic]

Dedraic, for a cat that seems active (yours) I would usually recommend horizon legacy, or Eagle holistic. Horizon if she is more active, and it also has various extra supplemental ingredients such as Colostrum.

Definitely an active cat. She's eliminated the mice problem in my studio and my mother's house in the two years we've had her. I'll take a look into those, would I need to go to a specialty store, or would Petsmart or something carry it?

I was also wondering if the denatured protein in cooked meat is bad for her. She usually gets a few cubic inches of steak or chicken (no poultry bones of course) two or three times a week, depending on how I'm eating. Is this good for her? Bad? Neutral? It certainly makes her a happy cat as long as it's not carne asada.

[TripleDot]

Can you get that at Petsmart/Petco? I've never heard of any of those brands. Why do you reccomend those over Science Diet? I think perhaps Petsmart, it's always worth a try, or at least phone them and ask. I recommend those brands basically because it doesn't seem like your dogs need any specialty foods, and those come to mind first. You could also use eagle pack/ eagle holistic, horizon legacy/complete, or Go!/Now! foods, really.

[TripleDot]

Definitely an active cat. She's eliminated the mice problem in my studio and my mother's house in the two years we've had her. I'll take a look into those, would I need to go to a specialty store, or would Petsmart or something carry it?

I was also wondering if the denatured protein in cooked meat is bad for her. She usually gets a few cubic inches of steak or chicken (no poultry bones of course) two or three times a week, depending on how I'm eating. Is this good for her? Bad? Neutral? It certainly makes her a happy cat as long as it's not carne asada. Petsmart might carry it, as I said to xilikeeggs0, give them a phone call. As for the cooked meat, it's not necessarily good for them, but neither is it bad, as long as you don't put any salt/sauces on it. I know that when you are feeding a raw diet, your not supposed to cook the meat because it basically defeats the point by eliminating a lot of the nutrients. So the table scraps are more of a treat thing, but hey, if it keeps her happy go for it.

[dedraic]

Petsmart might carry it, as I said to xilikeeggs0, give them a phone call. As for the cooked meat, it's not necessarily good for them, but neither is it bad, as long as you don't put any salt/sauces on it. I know that when you are feeding a raw diet, your not supposed to cook the meat because it basically defeats the point by eliminating a lot of the nutrients. So the table scraps are more of a treat thing, but hey, if it keeps her happy go for it.

Excellent. I'll just check in this weekend, I have to blow like thirty bucks on fish chemicals, filters, and food this weekend anyways.

I may start feeding it to her raw before I cook and see if she responds to it well. Putting my cat on a good diet would probably be a good idea.

Now if I could only do the same for me...

[TripleDot]

Excellent. I'll just check in this weekend, I have to blow like thirty bucks on fish chemicals, filters, and food this weekend anyways.

I may start feeding it to her raw before I cook and see if she responds to it well. Putting my cat on a good diet would probably be a good idea.

Now if I could only do the same for me... Careful with this though, I really don't know much about raw foods for cats. I know dogs can't get diseases (often) from fresh, raw meat, but I'm not positive if cats can contract anything. I'd search it on google before you feed her whatever kind of raw meat, just to be safe.

[xilikeeggs0]

I think perhaps Petsmart, it's always worth a try, or at least phone them and ask. I recommend those brands basically because it doesn't seem like your dogs need any specialty foods, and those come to mind first. You could also use eagle pack/ eagle holistic, horizon legacy/complete, or Go!/Now! foods, really.

Not one of those brands is listed on either Petco or Petsmart's websites.

[TripleDot]

Not one of those brands is listed on either Petco or Petsmart's websites.Well, I am gonna be writing more info up on the first post, check it from time to time, with what I have written so far you could basically select a decent quality pet food.

[dedraic]

Careful with this though, I really don't know much about raw foods for cats. I know dogs can't get diseases (often) from fresh, raw meat, but I'm not positive if cats can contract anything. I'd search it on google before you feed her whatever kind of raw meat, just to be safe.

Of course. I'm REALLY anal about making sure of the nutrition of my animals and other matters involving their health. My friends laugh at me constantly about freaking over my fish and plants.

But the advice is welcome nonetheless, it's a topic I'm not too aware of that I never even realized slipped through my web of intellect. And I'm St. Patty's day drunk, so I'm not exactly up to looking up papers on the "biochemistry of bacon intake in domestic felines"...

[Struwwelpeter]

Protein is not denatured by cooking, cooking it increases the absorption rate, as it kills a number of collagen proteins which cannot be digested easily by animals. The muscle protein you're looking for is not denatured, but enzymes are, which aren't of importance for animals, as opposed to protein itself. Sounds to me like you're another raw food retard, in any case it doesn't really matter what your cats eat, they're animals, they're not meant to get adequate nutrition and they do not in the wild. They do not need it, their natural hormonal secretion is enough to support their tendons, muscles, ligaments etc.

[ergoat]

The corpses of my enemies.

[vindicated]

Protein is not denatured by cooking, cooking it increases the absorption rate, as it kills a number of collagen proteins which cannot be digested easily by animals. The muscle protein you're looking for is not denatured, but enzymes are, which aren't of importance for animals, as opposed to protein itself. Sounds to me like you're another raw food retard, in any case it doesn't really matter what your cats eat, they're animals, they're not meant to get adequate nutrition and they do not in the wild. They do not need it, their natural hormonal secretion is enough to support their tendons, muscles, ligaments etc.


Bolded part = partially untrue.
The amino acid strands in many proteins begin to unravel at around 55-60 degrees centigrade.

[TripleDot]

Well damn Jim, I only worked there for like 3 months.

Thank you Vindicated.

[dedraic]

Protein is not denatured by cooking, cooking it increases the absorption rate, as it kills a number of collagen proteins which cannot be digested easily by animals. The muscle protein you're looking for is not denatured, but enzymes are, which aren't of importance for animals, as opposed to protein itself. Sounds to me like you're another raw food retard, in any case it doesn't really matter what your cats eat, they're animals, they're not meant to get adequate nutrition and they do not in the wild. They do not need it, their natural hormonal secretion is enough to support their tendons, muscles, ligaments etc.

Certainly it doesn't really matter what I feed them. But I enjoy puzzling it out and connecting together for optimal health. The same way I used to for myself.

I actually respond quite well to the paleolithic type diets, but I've never gone so far as to claim they work for everyone or that raw food is inherently superior. I'd never eat anything but fish raw, it just doesn't seem like a good idea. I don't currently have the income to support the diet I most favor though, so I eat what I can when I can.

But I am fascinated by biochemistry, and I quite like my animal and plant companions, so extending their lifespan, and increasing the quality of their health is of the utmost important to me. My cat may not need special food, but if I have the spare money in the future, I see no reason not to feed her the best of quality.

[TripleDot]

Certainly it doesn't really matter what I feed them. But I enjoy puzzling it out and connecting together for optimal health. The same way I used to for myself.

I actually respond quite well to the paleolithic type diets, but I've never gone so far as to claim they work for everyone or that raw food is inherently superior. I'd never eat anything but fish raw, it just doesn't seem like a good idea. I don't currently have the income to support the diet I most favor though, so I eat what I can when I can.

But I am fascinated by biochemistry, and I quite like my animal and plant companions, so extending their lifespan, and increasing the quality of their health is of the utmost important to me. My cat may not need special food, but if I have the spare money in the future, I see no reason not to feed her the best of quality.

Very well put.:thumbsup:

[kingvitamin]

scraps.

[ShutMeUp]

My dog used to get pretty much what we ate. She didn't like most dogfoods, so I used to make a meal from some sort of meat and dogfood. She loved scrambled eggs too. My dad used to say she ate better than us :D

[ShutMeUp]

My dog loves to eat nigger, also loves fried nigger. Depends on if I feel like frying the nigger meat.

Gtfo, trolling has no place here.

[JANUS]

when would it NOT be a good idea to use the acana or orijen foods made by champion pet foods, or eagle pack/eagle pack holistic?

Please be specific.

[ShutMeUp]

when would it NOT be a good idea to use the acana or orijen foods made by champion pet foods, or eagle pack/eagle pack holistic?

Please be specific.

Aren't there two companies named Champion Pet Foods?

[nuclearrabbit]

My dog needs hypoallergenic foodies. She's got nasty allergies. :(
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/4552/39128979ul2.jpg